Attachment for wind instruments.



iatented May 30, 1905.

PATENT OFFICE.

ERNST KREUTZBERG, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

ATTACHMENT FOR WIND INSTRUMENTS.

SPECIFICATION forming part Of Letters Patent N0..791,034, dated May 30, 1905.

Application filed August 5, 1903. Renewed November 16, 190 Serial No. 233,037-

.To all mil/01m 71/; may concern:

Be it known that I, ERNsT KREUTZBERG, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Louis, State of Missouri, have invented a new and useful Attachment for \Vind Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to attachments for wind instruments.

The object of the invention is to provide a moisture-catching attachment for wind instruments of the type in which a plurality of piston-operated valves are mounted. in small cylinders within which moisture from the breath of the performer accumulates when the instrument is used and is apt if no receptacle be provided to receive it to drop upon the clothing of the performer and soil the same.

A further object of the invention is to provide an attachment for musical instruments of the type specified which will receive the moisture which accumulates in the valves of the instruments and which when the instrument is laid aside will positively prevent the return ol the moisture to the valves of the instrument.

In describing the invention reference will be had to the accompanying drawings, illustrative thereof, in which is exhibited one form of embodiment of the invention applied to the valvecylinders of a comet or other similar wind instrument, it being understood that various changes in the form, proportion, and exact mode of assemblage of the elements exhibited may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view, chiefly in side elevation, of the attachment applied to the valve-cylinders of a wind instrument, parts being broken away to show the internal construction of the attachment. Fig. 2 is an end view of the parts shown in Fig. 1.. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the removable plug in one end of the attachment, and Fig. 4 is a detail view showing the construction of one of the clamping members.

Referring to the drawings, in which corresponding parts are designated by the same characters of reference in the several views, characters 1, 2, and 3 designate the valvecylinders of a wind instrument, each of which is provided with a short conical tube which extends downward from the lower end thereof, as shown at 4; in Fig. 1. The con ieal tubes at are open. at their lower ends and provide means for the escape of the saliva and the moisture resulting from the condensation of the water-vapor normally present in the breath 01? a performer when it comes in contact with the metal of which the instrument is made. The conical outlettubes 4 are ordinarily provided in wind instruments, because the presence of the moisture within the valve-cylinders is disadvantageous to the operation of the instrument and means must be provided for its escape. \Vhen wind instruments of the type for which the attachment is intended are in. use, the valve-cylinders are held in such position that the moisture escaping l'rom the conical tubes 4. is almost certain to drop upon the clothing of the performer and soil the same.

The attachment proper comprises a cylindrical receptacle 5, having along one side thereof a series of conical inlet-tubes 6, each of which is considerably larger than the outlet-tube 4 at the bottom of each of the valveeylinders of the instrument, so that the attachment may be readily brought into the position shown in Fig. 1, in which the outlettubes 4 are entirely covered by the conical tubes 6, each 01 which is pierced near the top with a plurality of openings 7 for the passage of air. The inlet-tubes 6, which are adjacent to the ends of the cylinder 5, have their lower ends bent toward the middle of the cy inder, as shown in Fig. 1, the utility of whose construction will be presently explained. The inlet-tubes 6 and the cylinder 5 are preferably formed integral or are rigidly associated by brazing or soldering; but the end 8 of the cylinder is a screw-threaded plug which is readilyremoved when it is desired to empty the moisture from the clyinder.

T he means for securing the attachment to a musical instrument comprises a pair of spring-actuated clamping-arms S), each of which. is pivotally mounted upon a pivotscrew 10, extending through lugs 11. upon the side of the cylinder 5. The arms 9 are similar in contour and are actuated by springs 12,

attached to the lower ends of said arms, as shown, and bearing against the sides of the cylinder 5. At its upper end each arm 9 is rovided with a dovetailed block 13, adapted for engagement with suitabl -formed grooves 14 in a lug 15 on the back 0 a curved clamping-jaw 16. The clamping-jaws 16 are adjustably secured upon the arms 9 by means of small screws 17, which pass through slides 18, formed in the upper ends of the arms, as best seen in Fig. 4.

As will be readily seen from an inspection of the drawings, to apply the attachment to an instrument it is only necessary to press the lower ends of the clamping-arms 9 toward the cylinder 5, thereby separating the jaws 16 sufliciently to be sli ped over the lower end of the middle cylin er 2 upon the instrument and then to bring the conical inlet-tube 6 into engagement with the lower ends of the cylinders, asshown in Fig. 1. The clampingarms 9 will then be released and the springs 12 will brin the jaws at once into engagement with the opposite sides of the middle cylinder 2.

The attachment being placed in position, any moisture that passes downward through the moisture-outlet tubes ,4 will pass into the cylinder 5 ofv the attachment and will be retained therein regardless of the position in which the instrument is held, for when one end ofthe cylinder is raised the moisture will flow down to the other end below the end of the adjacent inlet-tube 5, which is bent toward the middle of the tube, so as to revent the entry of moisture thereinto, and i the instrument be turned into such position that the attachment lies above the valve-cylinders the moisture within the cylindrical receptacle will gravitate to the side at which the inlet-tubes enter, but will be prevented from entering said tubes, because the tubes extend almost to the opposite side of the receptacle.

In the manufacture of the attachment the cylindrical receiver and the conical inletpipes may be formed in one piece, as shown in the drawings, or may be separately cast, and the receiver may, if desired, be formed in sections, as will be readily understood. If preferred, the plug 8, which is inserted into the end of the tubular receptacle 5, and

hence has its threads exposed to the saliva collected in the receptacle, may be replaced by a cap which fits over the end of the receptacle. As such changes are mere matters of detail and do not depart from the spirit of the invention, specific illustration thereof is regarded as unnecessary.

Having thus described the construction and operation of my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is 1 1. An attachment for wind instruments,

comprising a moisture-receiving receptacle of sufficient length to extend across the ends of the several valve-cylinders of a wind instrument, said receptacle having a plurality of openings therein spaced apart to correspond in position to the ends of said valvecylinders, and means for detachably securing said receptacle in contact with the ends of the valve-cylinders.

2. An attachment for wind instruments, comprising a moisture-receiving receptacle provided with aplurality of lateral openings corresponding in number and position to the valve-cylinders of a wind instrument, a removable closure for said receptacle, and

means for detachably securing said receptacle in contact with the ends of the valve-cylinders.

3. An attachment for wind instruments, comprising a moisture receptacle, a conical inlet-tube, and means for securing the inlettube in contact with the end of the valvecylinder of a wind instrument.

4. An attachment for wind instruments, comprising a moisture-receptacle, an inlettube in one side of said rece tacle, said inlettube being extended artia ly across the interior of said receptac e and means for securing the attachment to a wind instrument.

5. In an attachment for wind instruments, the combination of a cylindrical moisturereceptacle and an inlet-tube mounted in one side of said rece tacle and having the inner terminal thereo extended partially across the interior of said receptacle and bent away from the adjacent end of the receptacle.

6. In an attachment for wind instruments, the combination of a cylindrical moisturereceptacle, a conical inlet-tube mounted in one side of said receptacle and having the inner terminal thereof extended partially across the interior of said receptacle and bent away fromthe adjacent end, and a removable plug in one end of said receptacle.

7. An attachment for wind instruments comprising a moisture-receptacle and a pair of spring-actuatedclamping-arms pivotally mounted on o posite sides of said receptacle and adapted or en agement with the outside of a valve-cylin er of a wind instrument.

8. An attachment for wind instruments comprising a moisture-receptacle, a pair of spring actuated clampingarms pivotally mounted on opposite sides of said receptacle, and curved gripping-plates adjustably mounted at the ends of said clamping-arms and adapted for engagement with the outside of a valve-cylinder of a wind instrument.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my own I have hereto aflixed my signature in the presence of two witnesses.

ERNST KREUTZBERG.

Witnesses ALBERT BOSSARD, WM. HORN. 

